Ammunition container



Nov, 6, 1951 R. N. SANDBERG 2,573,774

A AMMUNITION CONTAINER Filed Feb. 12, 1948 s Sheets-Sheet 1 in venfon Faber-i 11 .50 ndberg 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 R. N. SANDBERG AMMUNITION CONTAINER [n venfop Robert MSandevy Nov. 6, 1951 Filed Feb. 12, 1948 Nov. 6, 1951 R. N. SANDBERG AMMUNITION CONTAINER 3 SheetS-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 12, 1948 In uent m Boerzfllsanaberg Patented Nov. 6, 1951 UNITED STATES ,573,714;

AMMUNITION C(YN'IA'INER.

Robert N. Sandberg Beverlst. Mass assignor. to.- United Shoe Machinery Gorporation, Eleming ton N. J.,.a corporationof New. Jersey 2 Claims.

This invention relatestoa stationary ammunntion container for use with machine'guns and in particular to a': container in which: a; linked ammunition-belt is st'ored'iandzwhichz is mounted sequently heavy length of'belt;-such aszis" needed to provide a rapidly firing gun with an. adequate supply of ammunition, from the container. Moreover, it has been diflicult to link additional belt sections to the cartridge bolt moving to the gun and thus to insure a continuous supply of ammunition. for thegun.

It is an object of the present! inventiori't'ocprovide a continuoussupplyof ammunition to a gun without imposing an undue load on the cartridge feed mechanism. Inaccordancewith" a feature of the invention; an ammunition-belt is suspended in festoons from spaced shelves of an ammunition container, these shelves being inclined'downward in'the-direction of movement of the belt so that the festoons may slide forward on the shelves under gravity as the belt is fed, without requiring excessive pulling or lifting of all of the belt by the cartridge feed mechanism. In accordance with another feature of the invention, the last cartridge of the belt is so located on the shelves of the container that another belt section may readily be secured thereto before the ammunition supply in the container becomes exhausted.

These and other features of the invention will now be more fully described in the following specification, with reference to the accompanying drawings, and will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is an isometric view of an ammunition container embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view of the container, showing 7 comprises side walls iii, an inner wall I 2 and a bottom wall l4. A substantially vertical outlet passage [6 is provided between the upper 2. end of the wall IZ Fand curved guide-plates l8 joined to flangesprovided on said wall l-2. The outer end, i. 6;, theback: portion, of the container is open;

Attached to'the container and surrounding the outlet opening of the passage I6 is a flexible ammunition chute: through which adisintegrat ing'linh-cartri'dge belt 20"; supported in the containerin a mannerdescribed below, passes; i ea, is fedto'supply successive-cartridges to amachine gun:

The container may be mounted on a; fl'xed support; such as a bracket 22- forming a= part'of a conventional gun' mount (not shown); by means of hooks 24 (Fig. 2) provided on the wall I2 Handles 26 one o1" which is secured to the outerface of each sidewall ll] facilitate the handling 'of the container and consequently the mounting'of the container on thebracket 22 or'the removal of the container fromthe bracket. To hold thecontaiher locked in position on the bracket22-a pawl2'8" (Fig. 1) is pivotallymounted on'the right-hand handle 26 (as seen in Fig; 1)", a spring 30 acting on" arr arm 32 integral with the pawl 28" to'liold the pawl in locking-engagement with thebracket. To release the pawl 28 a thumb plate, formed at the upper'endof the pawl; maybe moved inward toward the wall- If].

Provided at the upper end of each sidewall I 0 is a shelf 34 which extends inward over the top of the container, the inner or adjacent parallel edges of the shelves being spaced apart sufficiently to permit the. links of the belt 20 to pass freely between them. The shelves 34, as is the container bottom M, are inclined downward from the open end of the container toward the wall l2, as may clearly be seen in Figs. 1 and 2. The inner end of each shelf is curved upward to provide a stop face 36 below the outlet passage I6.

As shown in Fig. 2, the ammunition belt 20 is arranged in the container in festoons with all the cartridges forming the ends of the festoons, except the first cartridge of the leading festoon, resting on the top faces of the shelves 3 4. The last cartridge of the leading festoon normally is cradled in the curved stop faces 36 during the ammunition feed, as will be described below, and the last cartridge in the belt rests on the shelves in such a manner that another section of belt may easily be attached thereto to replenish the supply of ammunition before it becomes exhausted, thus insuring that a continuous supply of ammunition is available.

In describing the use of the container, it is to be assumed that the container is filled with stantially used up so that the last remaining car-- tridges in this festoon are passing upward through the outlet passage l6 (see Fig. 3), continued feeding of the belt to the gun will lift the last cartridge of this festoon out of engagement with the stop faces 36 (see Fig. 4), permitting the remaining festoons to slide downward along the shelves under gravity until the leading cartridge of the next festoon engages the stop faces 36. This cartridge will then become lifted out of engagement with the faces 36 by the continued feeding of the belt (see Fig. 5) and move upward into the passage Hi, the festoons again sliding forward on the shelves until the last cartridge in the leading festoon terminates this movement by engaging the stop faces 36. The same condition as prevailed originally will now again exist (see Fig. 2) and the last cartridge of the leading festoon will remain cradled in the stop faces 36 until the cartridges in the leading festoon, which is suspended between the gun and the faces 36, have been used up.

By supplying the gun with ammunition in this fashion, no excessive force or pull is required to move or lift the belt, the maximum force necessary being that needed to lift the cartridges contained in a single festoon. Moreover, it is not necessary to provide any force to move additional festoons forward since the remaining festoons in the container readily slide forward under gravity whenever either the first or the last cartridge in a festoon is lifted out of engagement with the stop faces 36.

Another length or section of belt may be joined to the last cartridge of the belt in the container at any time before that belt is exhausted. The added length of belt is then arranged in festoons which, in turn, are suspended Number 4 from the shelves. Thus the gun may continuously be supplied with ammunition and the firing of the gun need not be interrupted at any time to replenish the ammunition supply.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to be secured by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A stationary ammunition container of boxlike structure with an outlet opening, for use with machine guns, comprising, in combination, a plurality of walls, shelves on opposite walls inclined downward to a position below said open- 7 ing an arranged to carry the cartridges of a disintegrating link cartridge belt hung in festoons slidable downward thereon with the last cartridge of the belt resting on the shelves-in an easily accessible position for attachment of another belt section thereto, and stop faces at one end of the shelves for supporting in succession the top cartridges of successive festoons as the top cartridges of preceding festoons are lifted from the stop faces to move upward through the outlet opening.

2. In a' stationary ammunition container of box-dike structure, for use with machine guns, a plurality of walls, spaced shelves on opposite walls inclined sufliciently longitudinally to cause top cartridges in a disintegrating link cartridge belt hung in .festoons thereon to slide forward along the shelves under the influence of gravity, and upward curved positions at the forward ends of the shelves providing stops in which the top cartridges of successive festoons are cradled in successionas the top cartridges in preceding festoons are lifted out of engagement with said curved end portions during the movement of the belt.

ROBERT N. SANDBERG.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS 7 Name Date 2,110,160 2,303,976 2,382,? 15 2,452,545

Bawcutt et al. Dec. 1, 1942 Hertel Aug. 14, 1945 Broga Nov. 2, 1948 Larsson Mar. 8, 1938 

